Ross Perot is a fun guy. He was known for founding the IT service giant EDS, sending in team to rescue EDS employee kidnapped in Iran, and his presidential bid in 1992, among other things. Here is his Wiki entry.
I found his opinion on China economy growth when I searched “Ross Perot McCain” and found this article on Newsweek. The China quote is in page 3.
“He attributes the success of China to the fact that even uneducated Chinese must learn 3,000 characters early in life, compared to the 26 letters in the English alphabet. “Their hand-eye productivity is incredible because of drawing the symbols,” Perot says, noting that most of today’s Ph.D.s in engineering are from China and India, and only a small percentage from the United States.”
While I don’t think Chinese need to learn 3,000 characters, I agree with Ross’ analogy about America and China.